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#Goals? There’s an app for that.

Goals, we’ve all got them. Whether it’s learning that new language before your big trip abroad, or finding new office premises, life becomes more satisfying when we set and achieve our goals.

The trouble ticking these things off the “I will get this done” list is actually finding the time to achieve them. Newly launched Google Goals has been designed with this in mind, providing you with a tool that integrates with your schedule, ensuring you’re finding time to do the things that will allow you to achieve your goals, as well as run a business.

It’s good for everyone in the business, allowing employees to use their time more efficiently and more productively while making time for new skills to be learnt on a regular basis. The benefits are endless…

Personal calendar assistant

For those of us who aren’t naturally organised, it can be difficult to keep track of a busy schedule, especially when things are being moved in our calendars. And the first thing that tends to be sacrificed? Personal pursuits or goals outside of the day-to-day, as we try to tick off the things we deem as more important.

This can have a detrimental effect on productivity for those working in small businesses where time is of the essence and all employees need to be in charge of their own time, juggling it as efficiently as possible.

Google Goals allows you to pick a goal that you’d like to work on regularly, such as become better at using Microsoft Excel. You can then set how often you want to do it, for how long, and choose the best time of day for you. Your calendar will then automatically find open slots in your schedule for them.

A motivated team

If the employees of your small business find it difficult to manage their time in a busy environment, Google Goals will help your calendar adjust. The calendar will rearrange meetings, by hours or by days. If they just can’t work on a goal when it comes up, they can defer it and the calendar will reschedule it to later. It’s a handy tool for things that you definitely want to schedule time for, but can’t guarantee a specific time to do it.

This helps to ensure set goals are always made time for, especially the ones that you may have set your employees.

Simple integration

As with most things in the Google ecosystem it’s easy to integrate Google Goals into the calendar of any Google user.

So if you already use Gmail or Google Docs, simply add a Goal as you would an Event or Reminder and select the type of Goal it is you’d like to set.

Your calendar will then ask a few questions regarding how often you’d like to work on this, and when. It then zips off to comb through your Calendar and places Goals where it thinks you’re most likely to complete them.

As with many of the apps coming onto the market, Google Goals is smart and will respond to users’ activity in a way that works best, helping staff to stay up to speed with all of their tasks using minimum resource. It is the answer to small business challenges, and is a worthy investment that will save you and your staff valuable time.

The Goals feature update for the Google Calendar app is now live on both the Android Play and iOS App Stores.

For free, impartial business tech help and advice, why not book a session with an O2 Guru? They’re available online, in store and over the phone.